rikumovie

Ty Power and Linda Darnell

DAY-TIME WIFE (1939). Director: Gregory Ratoff.

"That's marriage -- if you're happy there's nothing better; if you're unhappy there's nothing worse."

Jane Norton (Linda Darnell) fears she's losing her husband, Ken (Tyrone Power), when he spends too many late nights at the office with his attractive secretary, Kitty (Wendy Barrie). This somehow gives Jane the unlikely notion of becoming a secretary herself so she can ferret out the secret of their appeal to men. So she goes to work for horny old devil Bernard Dexter (Warren William), who is also married but has quite an eye for the ladies. Jane at first refuses Dexters' invitation to dinner, but when Ken cancels plans to take Jane out for the evening, she decides to go with Dexter -- and who shows up in the supper club as their dining companions but Ken and his secretary! Oops -- what a situation. Day-Time Wife may never go down in history as one of the cinema's most brilliant comedies, but it is an awfully cute picture, with both Darnell and Power in top form [and both very charming], and is consistently amusing to boot. Barrie, William, Binnie Barnes as Jane's best friend, Blanche, and Joan Davis as Miss Applegate, who also works for Dexter but isn't pursued by him, lend expert support, as does Mildred Gover as the maid Melbourne. Amazing that this was only Darnell's second picture.

Verdict: An insubstantial but very amusing confection with wonderful leads. ***.

Florence Roberts, Spring Byington, and Joan Davis

TOO BUSY TO WORK (1939). Director: Otto Brower.

"If you sent her to Ripley I bet he wouldn't believe it!" -- Granny Jones on Lolly.

Mayor Jones (Jed Prouty) is alarming his wife (Spring Byington) and mother (Florence Roberts) because he's volunteering for too many duties as mayor and neglecting his drug store business to the point where he may lose it. Mrs. Jones decides to wake him up by neglecting her own duties and starring in a little theater production supervised by her old friend, Marge (Marjorie Gateson of Lily Turner). Added complications are the arrival of a niece, Lolly (Joan Davis of Around the World), who becomes the maid in exchange for food and board. Lolly has an eye on policeman Gilligan (Irving Bacon, Ethel's father on I Love Lucy) who loves her cooking but is preoccupied with the capture of safe cracker "Cracker" McGurk (Chick Chandler of Spy Train). Then the mayor discovers that his fellow board members have been behaving unethically and some money turns up missing ... Too Busy to Work is probably the funniest of the Jones Family films, with a good script and many amusing lines and situations to keep it consistently entertaining. Granny is especially acerbic in this entry. The entire cast, including Ken Howell and George Ernest, is top-notch, and Spring Byington certainly gets her chance to shine.

Verdict: Delightful! ***.